A documentary project of Living Venice e VIVA

We are Living Venice, an organization dedicated to exploring, documenting, and celebrating Venetian culture through motion picture and audio documentary projects.

The first of these is a motion picture documentary Beyond the Gondola: Where Hidden Venice Lives. Its subject is the voga alla veneta, the unique, traditional rowing method made world-famous by the gondolier (who does not pole in the mud to propel the boat, by the way), and that originated in the lagoon over 1000 years ago. The voga survives as a vital cultural and athletic practice despite being nearly obliterated upon the arrival of the private motorboat in the 1960s.

Watch the Preview – Vai all’anteprima

We are also developing an oral history project, Venetian Voices, which will document the lived experience of this extraordinary city through recorded conversations and interviews with Venetian residents. The fundamental idea, as with the film project, is to provide a medium in which Venetians can speak for themselves — be heard from directly. Voci Veneziane would become an audio archive of oral histories, with transcriptions available in English, Italian, and Venetian where required.